SAN FRANCISCO – Seven individuals, and on behalf of others in a similar situation, are suing Porsche, Volkswagen and Audi over allegations that the auto manufacturers mislead consumers.
Brian Fitzgibbons, Eric Wishan, Sheryl Stansell, Kurt Squier, Kate Maxfield, and Rhonnda and Paul Pellegrini filed a class-action complaint against Porsche AG, Porsche Cars North American Inc., Volkswagen Group of America Inc., Volkswagen AG, Audi AG, Audi of America LLC and Audi of America Inc. on Jan. 14 in the U.S. District Court for Northern District of California, San Francisco Division citing fraud by concealment, breach of contract and express and implied warranties, unjust enrichment and other counts.
According to the suit, the defendants installed defeat devices in more than 500,000 diesel Porsche, Audi and Volkswagen vehicles sold in the United States since 2009. Those vehicles were marketed as “environmentally friendly” and were told to possess extremely high fuel efficiency and performance with very low emissions, the complaint states. The claim states that this is a sham.
The plaintiffs are seeking an order preventing defendants from continuing their allegedly unlawful, deceptive, fraudulent, unfair business practices; injunctive relief of a recall or free replacement; damages; interests; and attorneys' fees and costs. Jacob Richards and Matthew J. Preusch of Keller Rohrback LLP in Oakland and Santa Barbara will represent the plaintiffs.
U.S. District Court for Northern District of California, San Francisco Division Case number 3:16-cv-00251